by iwd Tina | Jun 3, 2022 | Housing News
On June 3, CHAPA, The Boston Foundation, Metro Housing|Boston, and the Regional Housing Network of Massachusetts released a brief memo, The Benefits of Rental Assistance as a Right, with information about the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program and how we can chart a path for getting every eligible household the rental assistance they need. In addition to the memo, our organizations are working with The Center for State Policy Analysis to conduct further research to provide cost estimates along with strategies for effective implementation of getting rental assistance to all who qualify.
Below is the letter sent to each legislator in Massachusetts.
Dear Legislator,
On behalf of CHAPA, The Boston Foundation, Metro Housing|Boston, and the Regional Housing Network of Massachusetts, we are writing to share a brief memo with information about the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP) and how we can chart a path for getting every eligible household the rental assistance they need.
Housing is vital to our quality of life, our economy, and the stability of our neighborhoods. As our home prices and rents continue to escalate far faster than our incomes, there are many strategies that must be deployed to ensure every household can afford a home in the community they choose.
It is well documented that Massachusetts needs 200,000 new homes by 2030 to stabilize home prices and rents. Putting policies in place, such as requiring 175 communities served by the MBTA to zone for multifamily housing, will make a big impact, particularly for people with middle incomes. However, stabilizing home prices and rents that are already out of reach for so many people requires us to invest more deeply in the programs that assist people whose affordability challenges will not be solved by the market alone.
In October 2021, the Senate Committee on Reimagining Massachusetts endorsed a unique and promising new approach to achieve this: make rental vouchers available to all eligible residents.
Together, we can work to achieve this goal! In addition to the attached memo, our organizations are working with The Center for State Policy Analysis to conduct further research. In the months ahead, we expect to have cost estimates for a number of different approaches, along with strategies for effective implementation of getting rental assistance to all who qualify.
The Legislature has two opportunities before the end of this session to make progress on getting every resident the rental assistance they need:
- Include the strongest possible funding for MRVP in the final conference committee FY2023 budget; and
- Pass legislation that puts MRVP into statute. Passing An Act Relative to the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (H.1428/S.898) will lay the groundwork for growing this program into one that ensures every person who needs help paying rent receives it.
To ensure that every person in the Commonwealth has the foundation they need to thrive, we need to continue to invest in affordable housing production and preservation through Housing Bond Bills, federal ARPA funds, support our Public Housing, and make rental assistance available to every household who is eligible and cannot afford rent.
Thank you for your leadership and commitment to ensuring everyone in the Commonwealth has a safe, healthy, and affordable home in a community that they choose.
Please let us know if you have any questions or if we can provide any other information.
Sincerely,
Rachel Heller
Chief Executive Officer
Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association
Keith Mahoney
Vice President of Communications & Public Affairs
The Boston Foundation
Chris Norris
Executive Director
Metro Housing|Boston
Stefanie Coxe
Executive Director
Regional Housing Network of Massachusetts
by iwd Tina | May 25, 2022 | Housing News
United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, the Massachusetts Housing & Shelter Alliance (MHSA), Citizens’ Housing & Planning Association (CHAPA), Pine Street Inn, Father Bill’s & MainSpring, and Heading Home today announce their support of the Baker-Polito Administration’s proposed new “One Door” pilot program to provide permanent supportive housing to individuals and families experiencing homelessness. The organizations praise Governor Baker’s proposal to pilot a new approach that would streamline the funding of permanent supportive housing and enable individuals, families, youth and young adults experiencing homelessness to access safe, stable housing and services more quickly and seamlessly.
On Thursday, May 19, Governor Baker filed a $1.7 billion supplemental Fiscal Year 2022 budget for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which included $10 million in funding towards permanent supportive housing operating and service costs for individuals, youth and young adults, and families experiencing homelessness. Research shows that supportive housing is an effective and efficient solution, providing affordable housing and intensive, coordinated services to individuals who are struggling with housing insecurity, employment, financial hardship, substance use disorders, and chronic physical and behavioral health issues.
This new program pilots a strategy that Rep. Joan Meschino, United Way and a broad coalition of 70 housing providers, healthcare institutions, and nonprofit and philanthropic leaders have advocated for over the past year. House Bill 3838 would align existing resources to create a Massachusetts Flexible Housing Pool (MFHP), a nimble pot of public and private funds, and expand supportive housing to enable swift, equitable and targeted deployment of funds to help adults, youth, and families experiencing chronic homelessness.
“Providing permanent supportive housing is necessary as we take a new approach to addressing homelessness in the Commonwealth,” said Representative Joan Meschino (D-Hull). “By blending public and private funding streams together and creating a single, flexible funding source, this bill will offer critical assistance to residents wherever they may fall along a continuum of need.”
In February, the Joint Committee on Housing reported the bill out favorably. The flexible pool of funding proposed by H3838 and the “One Door” model announced by the Commonwealth bundle capital, operating and supportive services funding streams so that the most vulnerable community members receive the housing and services they need, which shifts the burden from providers to pull resources together from multiple sources.
“The implementation of this permanent supportive housing pilot program will help advance a coordinated, comprehensive response to the crisis of homelessness that continues to impact our most vulnerable individuals and families across the Commonwealth,” said Bob Giannino, President and CEO at United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley. “We are so appreciative of the partner organizations that have joined us in advocating for this model and we will continue to push for a sustained flexible funding stream to support continued regional coordination and integrated services for those most in need.”
The FY22 supplemental budget proposed last week by the Governor will now move to the House of Representatives and State Senate for approval. United Way and its partners will also continue to press for passage of H3838, filed for the first time this session and currently before the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, to codify and expand the approach of the Commonwealth’s new pilot program.
“MHSA is grateful to the Baker-Polito Administration for this investment in much-needed flexible funding for permanent supportive housing,” said Joe Finn, MHSA President & Executive Director. “The creation of this new permanent supportive housing line item is an incredible step forward in our collective efforts to end homelessness in Massachusetts and would not have been possible without the years of advocacy from MHSA, MHSA member agencies, and the Building a Supportive Housing Pipeline Coalition, chaired by United Way, CHAPA, and MHSA. Most importantly, this reflects the dedicated work of provider agencies across the Commonwealth who have demonstrated again and again that low-threshold supportive housing works.”
“Pine Street Inn is grateful to the administration, United Way and MHSA for working to ensure that the ‘support’ in supportive housing is funded,” said Lyndia Downie, President and Executive Director at Pine Street Inn. “It is a recognition that supportive housing is one of the best tools we have to end long-term homelessness. The One Door initiative is a good start to creating long-term, sustainable funding for this essential work.”
“This new strategy creates a more efficient funding process for direct-care housing providers like ours, and we are grateful to everyone who made this pilot program happen,” said John Yazwinski, President & CEO of Father Bill’s & MainSpring (FBMS), which operates more than 600 permanent supportive housing units in Southern Massachusetts. “Looking ahead, the passage of H3838 would serve as a critical long-term investment in the services providing hope and stability to our most vulnerable neighbors.”
“Heading Home is supportive of the One Door pilot approach, a critical first step in ensuring flexible, pooled funding to address programmatic and housing needs of families, individuals, and youth who are homeless,” said Danielle Ferrier, CEO of Heading Home. “It is incredibly encouraging to see this next stage of development of comprehensive, state-wide systems to address this issue and better serve the Commonwealth’s families, individuals and youth experiencing housing insecurity.”
United Way and supportive housing organizations continue to advocate for systems change and innovative solutions to end homelessness and advance long-term housing solutions throughout Massachusetts. The Supportive Housing Coalition, a partnership between United Way, CHAPA and MHSA convenes more than 70 providers, developers, funders, and advocates regularly to develop an expanded focus on system alignment and statewide coordination of homelessness services, collecting and using data to inform decisions in the sector and support policy and advocacy.
The Massachusetts Pay for Success Initiative to Reduce Chronic Homelessness – a partnership between the Commonwealth, MHSA, United Way, and CSH – demonstrated that the supportive housing model works. Over six years, this Pay for Success Initiative served more than 1,000 vulnerable individuals and has demonstrated savings on healthcare costs in the amount of $5,257 per person, per year. Through the program, 84% of individuals experiencing chronic and long-term homelessness who received supportive services and a housing voucher remain housed one year later.
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About MHSA
The Massachusetts Housing & Shelter Alliance (MHSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending homelessness in Massachusetts. Through advocacy, collaboration, education, and innovative program development, MHSA focuses on evidence-based solutions that reduce public reliance on emergency resources and prioritize access to stable housing and individualized support services. MHSA draws on the on-the-ground experience of its almost 100 member agencies from across Massachusetts to inform its advocacy and program development. MHSA’s unique position as an intermediary between public agencies and homeless service providers enables it to create solutions to homelessness that have the greatest impact. For more information, please visit www.mhsa.net.
About CHAPA
Citizens’ Housing & Planning Association (CHAPA) is the leading statewide affordable housing policy organization in Massachusetts, bringing together stakeholders from across the housing and community development field to build consensus around solutions. Established in 1967, CHAPA advocates for increased opportunity and expanded access to housing so that every person in Massachusetts can have a safe, healthy, and affordable place to call home. For more information, visit www.chapa.org.
About United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley
United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley is a leading civic engagement organization dedicated to responding to our region’s most pressing issues like housing stability, economic mobility, healthy child development and educational success. We listen and work with communities to identify areas of greatest need and innovative approaches to address them, and then mobilize donors and corporate partners to provide resources to create positive lasting change. We have a vision and a mandate to empower stronger, more equitable communities, and we have the scale and reach to help. Our deep partnerships with hundreds of nonprofit organizations, state and municipal leaders, and businesses make us the region’s go-to mobilizer to address urgent needs and activate comprehensive, long-term solutions. More information is available at www.unitedwaymassbay.org. Follow us @unitedwaymabay and #LiveUnited.
by iwd Tina | May 18, 2022 | Housing News
On May 18, Governor Baker filed a $1.7 billion FY2022 supplemental budget (H.4802). According to the Governor’s press release, the budget contains $310 million for housing development. It proposes $200 million for workforce housing, $100 million for public housing redevelopment in Boston, Cambridge, Salem, and Worcester, and $10 million to increase permanent supportive housing for individuals and families experiencing chronic homelessness.
The bill is supported by state tax revenues that exceed FY22 benchmarks through April by $4.23 billion.
The supplemental budget is now before the House Committee on Ways and Means.
The following is language from the supplemental budget on housing programs:
Workforce Housing
7004-9321 – For grants, loans or other financial assistance to support the production of rental, or for-sale, housing that is affordable for households with incomes between 60% and 120% of area median income; provided, that funds shall be prioritized for projects located in communities in Barnstable, Berkshire, Dukes and Nantucket Counties to support the production of year-round housing units suitable for permanent occupancy by individuals and families challenged to find year-round housing; provided further, that the short-term rental of such year-round housing units produced with this appropriation in the aforementioned counties shall be prohibited; and provided further, that such grants, loans or other financial assistance may be administered through one or both of the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency and the Massachusetts Housing Partnership…..$200,000,000
Public Housing Redevelopment
7004-9323 – For grants to local housing authorities for the redevelopment of public housing; provided, that the grants shall require a local match as determined by the department of housing and community development; provided further, that up to $50,000,000 shall be expended for the Mary Ellen McCormack Public Housing Community in the city of Boston; provided further, that not less than $16,000,000 shall be expended for the Mildred C. Hailey Apartments in the city of Boston; provided further, that not less than $12,500,000 shall be expended for Leefort Terrace in the city of Salem; provided further, that not less than $11,000,000 shall be expended for Jefferson Park in the city of Cambridge; provided further, that not less than $10,500,000 shall be expended for Curtis Apartments in the city of Worcester; provided further, that the department may exempt a recipient of grants from this item from the requirements of chapters 7C and 121B of the General Laws upon a showing by the recipient that such exemptions are necessary to accomplish the effective revitalization of public housing and shall not adversely affect public housing residents or applicants of any income who are otherwise eligible; and provided further, that the department may provide to recipients of grants from this item such additional regulatory relief as may be required to further the objectives of public housing redevelopment, including pursuit of complementary funding sources to ensure preservation as permanently affordable housing……$100,000,000
Supportive Housing
7004-9324 – For a reserve to support the commonwealth’s financing of permanent supportive housing for individuals, youth and young adults, and families experiencing homelessness; provided, that the reserve shall be administered by the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation; and provided further, that funds shall be expended in the form of grants or loans to permanent supportive housing projects serving the populations identified in this item to cover recurring project operating and service costs……$10,000,000
by iwd Tina | May 17, 2022 | Housing News
On May 17, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced each state’s FY2022 allocations for the National Housing Trust Fund, Community Development Block Grant, HOME, and other formula grant programs. This year, Massachusetts received $18.6 million from the National Housing Trust Fund—an increase from the $17.0 million received last year—to support new homes for people with the lowest incomes.
HUD makes allocations directly to the Commonwealth as well as to eligible jurisdictions. A description of each program is included after the table.
| FY 2022 Community Planning and Development Formula Program Allocations |
| NAME |
CDBG |
RHP |
HOME |
ESG |
HOPWA |
HTF |
| Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
$34,276,029 |
$982,607 |
$11,086,368 |
$4,960,269 |
$361,240 |
$18,648,225 |
| Arlington |
$1,060,150 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Attleboro |
$382,265 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Barnstable |
$307,675 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Boston |
$17,271,305 |
$0 |
$6,421,928 |
$1,486,063 |
$3,381,777 |
$0 |
| Brockton |
$1,270,793 |
$0 |
$684,097 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Brookline |
$1,257,780 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Cambridge |
$2,615,356 |
$0 |
$720,106 |
$227,438 |
$2,216,183 |
$0 |
| Chicopee |
$1,164,485 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Fall River |
$2,762,180 |
$0 |
$1,206,316 |
$250,698 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Fitchburg |
$929,220 |
$0 |
$545,493 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Framingham |
$494,879 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Gloucester |
$698,570 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Haverhill |
$954,370 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Holyoke |
$1,235,438 |
$0 |
$967,493 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Lawrence |
$1,579,468 |
$0 |
$905,678 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Leominster |
$444,829 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Lowell |
$2,129,223 |
$0 |
$949,668 |
$188,858 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Lynn |
$2,214,818 |
$0 |
$992,340 |
$203,992 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Malden |
$1,306,818 |
$0 |
$2,163,947 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Medford |
$1,489,182 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| New Bedford |
$2,551,680 |
$0 |
$970,240 |
$231,678 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Newton |
$1,870,395 |
$0 |
$1,618,338 |
$165,059 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Northampton |
$643,411 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Peabody City |
$430,825 |
$0 |
$2,317,502 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Pittsfield |
$1,300,800 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Plymouth Town |
$378,844 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Quincy |
$1,745,215 |
$0 |
$900,610 |
$157,672 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Revere City |
$688,478 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Salem |
$1,056,224 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Somerville |
$2,498,810 |
$0 |
$529,653 |
$217,111 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Springfield |
$3,776,615 |
$0 |
$1,823,012 |
$332,422 |
$771,820 |
$0 |
| Taunton |
$812,263 |
$0 |
$860,342 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Waltham |
$887,030 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Westfield |
$367,902 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Weymouth |
$715,699 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Worcester |
$4,232,467 |
$0 |
$1,844,930 |
$392,016 |
$733,016 |
$0 |
| Yarmouth |
$126,218 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| Barnstable County |
$0 |
$0 |
$480,419 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
- Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) – The Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) provides annual grants on a formula basis to states, cities, and counties to develop viable urban communities by providing decent housing and a suitable living environment, and by expanding economic opportunities, principally for low- and moderate-income persons.
- CDBG Recovery Housing Program (RHP) – The Recovery Housing Program (RHP) allows states and the District of Columbia to provide stable, transitional housing for individuals in recovery from a substance-use disorder.
- HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) – The HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) provides funding to states and localities that communities use – often in partnership with local nonprofit groups – to fund a wide range of activities including building, buying, and/or rehabilitating affordable housing for rent or homeownership or providing direct rental assistance to low-income people.
- Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) – Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) provide funds for homeless shelters, assist in the operation of local shelters, and fund related social service and homeless prevention programs.
- Housing Opportunities for Persons with HIV/AIDS (HOPWA) – Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) grants provides rental housing assistance and supportive services for persons living with HIV/AIDS and their families.
- Housing Trust Fund (HTF) – The Housing Trust Fund provides funding to produce affordable housing units for households with extremely low incomes.
